EXCLUSIVE: Twenty years later, Vince Carter and Nets still perfect match

Amidst a busy week, Vince Carter gave NetsDaily an exclusive interview and reminded us how he became a franchise legend.

Basketball always came easily to Vince Carter. So did volleyball, football, tennis, ping-pong, bowling, and just for good measure, Carter was offered a saxophone scholarship out of high school.

We know all this thanks to From Daytona Beach to Brooklyn, the Brooklyn-Nets-produced documentary on the man whose #15 jersey they’ll retire Saturday night. Teammates smirk at Carter’s practice antics; there’s archival footage of him casually pulling from half-court, hitting left-handed 3-pointers, swishing trick-shots.

“He’s one of the most talented athletes to ever walk the face of the planet … It’s like, he’s just a different human being,” said Richard Jefferson.

These anecdotes are fun, but unnecessary. You only needed to catch one deep three, one dunk, or even the right lay-up to agree with RJ.

That’s why Brooklyn Paramount on Thursday night — the setting for the documentary’s premiere — was packed not just with Carter’s ex-teammates, but season-ticket-holders, media, and current Nets. We’re all just fans.

“When you’re growing up watching the game, you want to play like Vince Carter,” said Cam Johnson. “That seems like the coolest way to play, just go in and dunk on everybody, and you can shoot from anywhere. What could be better?”

Alas, you could never play like Vince Carter. You could perform every dunk from his immortal performance in the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest; a quarter-century later, plenty of NBA players have. You could hit threes with your off-hand, you could hit a full-court shot while sitting down. Like Vince, you could do the impossible.

But you could never, ever make it look that easy. And that’s Vinsanity.

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Vince Carter still makes it look effortless, though I no longer wish to be him. He’s had an exhausting week, following an exhausting few months, set for one final celebration on Saturday night.

In October, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and then just weeks later, his iconic Toronto Raptors jersey was retired in the rafters of Scotiabank Arena. (And yes, Toronto cut the line.)

His emotions facing a country that had finally, fully re-embraced him after his ugly exile went viral…

Now, Brooklyn is retiring his New Jersey jersey, and have kicked off the festivities to honor the Daytona Beach native.

At Thursday’s documentary premiere, Carter and his family chatted with Nets present and past, but were mostly whisked from photo op to photo op, interview to interview. After the crowd at Brooklyn Paramount watched the documentary, Richard Jefferson hosted a Q&A with the man of the hour. A highlight: Carter poking fun at new teammate Ian Eagle.

“Can we talk about how he called our games as players, and now we actually work with him? And you felt like we were old? Nah, that dude is old.”

On Friday morning, Carter and his family visited the Empire State Building, which will light up in red, white, and blue when at halftime of Saturday’s contest against the Miami Heat, his jersey is raised. On 34th and 5th, there were more photos, interviews, jokes, and more public reflection.

It did not seem easy … but this is Vince Carter we’re talking about. I was the last of about 20 media obligations for Carter on Friday morning, following at least 20 the night before. Still, he turned three quick questions into a six-minute conversation.

Carter was exactly how Jefferson and Jason Collins described him the night before, warm, engaging, smiling, the ideal teammate.

Devin Harris even credited him for his sole All-Star appearance, saying VC, “took me in, kind of showed me the ropes a little bit, for the first half of the season. Then that next season, he allowed me to become more of a No. 1 option. He kind of took a step back, he was like, ‘you know, I had my time, and I see you want to do better things.’ So I don’t think I would have become an All-Star without [that].”

Twenty years and one month later, it seems unfathomable that Carter’s Nets career exists thanks to his personal war with the Raptors. That his character, maybe even rightfully, was under attack in 2004. In 2025, Vince Carter the Person seems inseparable from Vince Carter the (HOF) Player.

And yet, he tells NetsDaily that when he got to the Meadowlands, that wasn’t his focus, “because I think what was being expected of me, was the player.”

So how did he and the Nets have a happy marriage from day one? How, in the second half of his career, did he become the quintessential veteran, playing for six more franchises? As the Nets well know, talent isn’t all it takes to become a franchise-favorite.

“I wanted people to know me, the person, as a person that enjoyed playing. So the player then had appreciation on the court. That’s why I smiled so much, because I’m so thankful for playing this game. And I was looked at as one of the top vote-getters for All-Star and all that stuff, but I still felt like, ‘I’m happy to be here, man.’”

Vince Carter becoming an icon of the game did not seem to be in the cards two decades ago, despite the iconic highlights. Even when he was traded out of that nasty situation in Toronto, he was just going to a small-market team declining from its peak two years earlier.

Maybe time does heal all wounds. Maybe playing for 22 seasons and inspiring a country of hoopers does all well. Despite his post-playing career as a broadcaster and respected statesman of ball, Carter doesn’t think he excels living his life in public.

“I’ve never been great at it, in my opinion. Some people will think of it like, ‘yeah, but I don’t ever see it!’ I don’t know how to explain that, I just, I cope with it every day … What I’m saying is, sometimes I don’t mind being in the background. I’d prefer, ‘Hey, Vince,’ and keep it going. That’s the perfect life, as opposed to [mimics screaming] “Hey Vince! Hey Vince!’ I don’t know, I’ve just always been that way.”

This is no shock, and Carter isn’t the first celebrity to feel this way about fame. However, the greatest dunker of all time started feeling this way after the highlight of his career.

“I think after the dunk contest is when it happened, or when that feeling happened. It went from, ‘yeah you knew who I was. I was one of these rookies, or a second-year player in the dunk contest for the Toronto Raptors. ‘But after Saturday night, then having a pretty good Sunday game, it was different. You looked at me as a different person. That was one of the harder things to accept, and it never really had a chance to take a step back. Because it was on since that day.”

Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Empire State Realty Trust

Rest assured, VC is enjoying the ride. He maintains he is as grateful as ever, not just to become a Hall of Fame and have his number retired by multiple franchises, but to go through all that comes with it. To reflect on his career, right alongside us.

“It’s been fun, but interesting. You just learn a lot about yourself, or things that you don’t realize about yourself, and I think that’s been the fun side of it. I’ve been one to — I truly believe in being able to look in the mirror. We always say: ‘Take a look in your mirror and look for your true self, and you learn a lot about yourself.’ And that’s kind of what this is, the opportunity to take that look in the mirror, publicly, though …. I’m one with it.”

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There’s been debate about whether the Brooklyn Nets should retire Vince Carter’s jersey. He played less than 400 games with the franchise, won a total of two playoff series, and will be remembered by most NBA fans, primarily, as a Toronto Raptor. (But when you look at his statistics, you see the difference between his two stints is small … and played 97% of the Nets games while wearing the red, white and blue.)

Carter and the Nets are probably aware of the debate. And this probably wasn’t a slam-dunk decision. They don’t care.

From Daytona Beach to Brooklyn often skips over the most intriguing parts of VC’s career (there is no mention of the infamous Game 7 Graduation, as you’d expect from the team-made documentary) it gets one thing right: Carter and the Nets were a perfect match.

Carter’s tenure in New Jersey remains the high-water mark for the franchise since making those two consecutive NBA Finals in 2002-03. The Nets resuscitated Carter’s career, and in the Garden State, the Hall of Fame found joy in basketball again.

At the bottom of the Empire State Building, there is a basketball court. On Friday morning, Carter was messing around in there as part of his grand tour, teaching the cameras some trick shots.

About 16 feet from the hoop, he grabbed a ball from the rack, bounced it off the floor, off the glass, and in. He then walked to the free-throw line, turned around, and explained the optimal way to make a backwards free-throw attempt over your head. Swish.

“Inhuman,” as Devin Harris describes him.

The Nets and #15 are still a perfect match. And he is still Vince Carter.